Jules Bistro is an authentic French bistro in Gastown that recently celebrated their 11th anniversary. A Gastown staple since 2007, the bistro is the embodiment of chef-owner Emmanuel’s seasoned career as a French chef. His menu melds the flavours of France with a West Coast style, offering up authentic, traditional French dishes and daily specials all using fresh, local ingredients at affordable prices. I recently enjoyed weekend brunch at Jules Bistro. Here’s a look at some of the tantalizing dishes they serve for brunch.

Disclosure: All food and drinks in this review were complimentary. Opinions are my own.

Quiet Ambiance

Set among the cobblestone streets of Gastown, Jules Bistro exudes a quiet ambiance with a French charm. I love the exposed brick walls, the tiled floor and the small touches of France with the mini Eiffel towers and distance signage to Bordeaux.

Wine Selection

Jules Bistro offers an extensive wine selection which features both domestic and imported wine.

What We Tried

Our meal began with a complimentary basket of fresh bread which goes well with the dishes later to come.

Baby Scallops in Shell

To start, some baby scallops in shell which were beautifully presented on a bed of sea salt in a stainless steel platter over a paper doily. The scallops were well-seasoned in a savoury sauce.

Artichoke Croquettes

Two eggs sunny side ($15)

For those who love a hearty brunch entree with eggs, this dish is for you. Two eggs sunny side up with a sinfully, crispy potato rosti and dill marinated salmon carpaccio. I loved the different textures involved from the crispy and crunchy rosti to the smooth carpaccio and runny egg yolk.

Quiche of the day ($14)

The quiche of the day was a scallop and salmon quiche served with choice of fries, salad or half and half.

Dessert

Who can say no to French dessert? I tried a small selection of Jules Bistro’s offerings.

Choux Pastry

Crispy, golden brown shell with a light, airy and fluffy centre.

Melting chocolate cake ($8.50)

Melting chocolate cake with a caramel drizzle and topped with vanilla ice cream. It had the right amount of richness without being overly decadent.

Lemon Tart ($8.50)

Served with an orange sorbet, this lemon tart had a nice tangy and sweet filling in a buttery crust.

Overall Impression

I very much enjoyed the brunch experience at Jules Bistro with the quaint atmosphere and elevated food at affordable prices. It’s a great place to enjoy brunch in the heart of Gastown before venturing off and exploring the city.

Established in 1988, the Water St. Cafe is an iconic restaurant in Gastown overlooking cobbled streets and the world famous steam clock. After the original owner retired last month, the restaurant assumed new ownership but by two industry veterans: Eli Brennan and Chef Alan Tse. Both are formerly of The Teahouse in Stanley Park with Brennan as General Manager and Tse as Chef. This is their first venture together in owning and operating the Water St. Cafe.

The Water St. Cafe is known for Pacific Northwest cuisine with Italian influences. Guests can expect the same menu as before but with enhanced recipes and improved service. I was invited to a media tasting at the Water Street Cafe this week. Here’s a look at my lunch experience there.

Disclosure: All food and drinks in this review were complimentary. Opinions are my own.

Bright and Charming Space

The bright and airy space with floor to ceiling windows at the Water Street Cafe exudes a historic Gastown charm. At the time of my visit, the restaurant was very busy with many groups enjoying holiday lunch together.

The Water St. Cafe also has a second floor where they have two private dining rooms. I thought their large room is particularly nice with views down Water Street and the steam clock.

What We Tried

For our tasting, we left it up to the Chef to choose the dishes that best represented an ideal lunch experience for two. To start, I enjoyed a skillfully executed layered latte.

Our first starter dish featured pan seared scallops and Water St. Cafe’s famous West Coast Crab Cakes. The perfectly seared scallops were tender and buttery while the crab cakes had a lacy, crispy exterior and tender, fine filling.

The Wagyu Beef Carpaccio was also a delicious appetizer with a fresh, pure, meaty flavour and melt-in-your-mouth, velvety texture.

A solid salad choice at Water St. Cafe would be the Beet and Arugula Salad with chèvre and lemon vinaigrette. A very nice, wintery salad which was beautiful and had fresh, crisp ingredients.

Moving on to mains, my guest and I enjoyed the house made gnocchi with mushrooms, truffle butter and chèvre. The gnocchi was soft, pillowy, smooth but still somewhat firm on bite. I really enjoyed the mushroom sauce for the gnocchi as well.

My guest raved about the Rigatoni with Italian Sausage, roasted fennel, plum tomato and cracked chilies. The pasta was wonderfully al dente while the savoury sauce was full of flavour and very hearty.

And to finish off a fantastic meal, we had the Flourless Double Chocolate Espresso Cake served with a black cherry compote. Much to my surprise, this is probably the best flourless chocolate cake I have had in a restaurant. The cake was velvety smooth, rich but not overly decadent. I loved the added flavour of espresso to the cake. The black cherry compote was a very unique and delicious accompaniment because it added a wonderfully bold, tangy and sharp flavour to the dessert. I highly recommend it.

Overall Impression of Water St. Cafe

My lunch experience at Water St. Cafe was absolutely delicious and I would recommend others to visit. My ideal three-course lunch would be the West Coast Crab Cakes, Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and the Flourless Double Chocolate Espresso Cake.

Baby, it’s cold outside so how about some ramen to warm you up? The Poke Shop in Gastown has introduced a menu of ramen and rice bowls this winter season.

For ramen, there are 8 varieties (black garlic oil tonkotsu, tonkotsu, beef brisket, shoyu chicken, cha siu, miso, shoyu, and vegetarian). There are also 6 rice bowl choices: teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, oyakodon, beef don, cha siu and vegetarian. The Poke Shop is even offering curry bowls with choice of chicken, beef and vegetable in the near future. You can expect ramen bowls to be around $11 – $13 and rice bowls around $10 – $13.

Disclosure: I attended a media tasting where all food and drinks were complimentary. Opinions are my own.

What We Tried

Our media tasting consisted of the following dishes:

Ramen

Miso Ramen ($11) in Spicy Soup Base ($0.35)

Black Garlic Oil Tonkotsu ($12)

Tonkotsu ($12)

Rice

Oyakodon ($10)

Cha Siu Don ($13)

While I sample many of the dishes at the tasting, the one dish that stood out to me the most was the Miso Ramen with Spicy Soup Base. To me, this had the most flavourful broth but I must admit that my regular go-to ramen flavour is miso. I thought the noodles (somewhat al dente) and the cha siu (somewhat tender) were OK for a non-ramen dedicated eatery.

Miso Ramen with Spicy Soup Base

My second favourite would have to be the Black Garlic Oil Tonkotsu Ramen in terms of having a tasty, flavourful broth.

Black Garlic Oil Tonkotsu Ramen

Black Garlic Oil Tonkotsu Ramen

Other dishes we tried were the Tonkotsu Ramen and rice bowls (Oyakodon and Cha Siu Don).

Tonkotsu Ramen

Tonkotsu Ramen

Oyakodon

Cha Siu Don

The Poke Shop has a selection of specialty drinks. At this event, I tried the Cucumber Agave Lemon Water which seem like the perfect cool and refreshing drink to be had while being pampered at a spa. The other drink I enjoyed was the Roasted Macademia Milk Tea which had nice, nutty flavours.

Last year, my husband and had stumbled upon Wishing Treats after walking back to our car post-lunch at L’Abbatoir. Not knowing what they were about, we peered through the window to see what was inside. It turns out that it was a gourmet candy store that had opened recently and the candy maker who saw us gestured for us to go in. It was then that we got to know more about Wishing Treats.

Wishing Treats is a one-of-a-kind candy store specializing in handmade artisan candy made from caramel. Our North American understanding of caramel is a squishy, toffee-like candy. But in fact, in parts of South America and Europe, “caramelo” is the term for hard candy or “rock.” At Wishing Treats, they are transforming caramel into bite-size, hard candy with customizable designs. Think special messages for birthdays, baby showers, and other celebrations.

During my visit, I met Wes Raley aka the candy maker who has over 10 years of experience in candy design. We had a look at how their candies are made. Just check out his impressive chopping skills in my real-time video below. He really can chop that fast!

We got to try a few sample candies when we were there. I was impressed with the light flavours of the rock candy which were not too sweet but still satisfying. The creative designs and logos also made these candies appealing.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links.

Most recently, I saw that Wishing Treats had a Groupon deal (affiliate) where you can buy 4 x $6 bag of treats for $14 (affiliate). I bought the voucher and picked up a few bags for myself and for gifting. They had one which said “Thank You” which I thought would be nice for son’s teachers. If you can’t decide on a flavour, they also have mixes like the Fruity Mix which has Banana, Blueberry, Lemon, Raspberry, Strawberry, Tutti-Fruity, and Watermelon.

If you want to save even more money on your Groupon purchases, I would recommend signing up for an Ebates.ca (affiliate) account where you earn cashback on purchases. I typically earn about 6% cashback on my Groupon purchases just by clicking through to Groupon via Ebates.ca (affiliate). You can either get cash back or Amazon gift cards.

Overall Impression

I really enjoyed seeing the candy making process at Wishing Treats. Watching it in person made me appreciate it as an art form. I’d recommend giving Wishing Treats a try. Their treats are lightly flavoured but the flavour is still recognizable.

When it comes to top coffee shops in Vancouver, Revolver Coffee is certainly one of them if not *the* number one spot. Coffee snobs and not-so-snobby coffee lovers have consistently rated Revolver Coffee as the best place in Vancouver to get caffeinated. Revolver Coffee serves has a revolving (pun intended) menu of beans from top notch roasters around the world including local ones like Bows & Arrows (Victoria) and Matchstick (Vancouver).

A while back, my friend and I sought refuge from a sudden downpour of rain and visiited Revolver Coffee. We ordered a cappuccino and latte, which of course, were delicious. Perfect temperature, proportion of espresso versus milk, and velvety texture.

The interior of Revolver Coffee is industrial-chic and rustic – a fitting atmosphere for a coffee shop in Gastown. My friend and I sat along the window and watched the rain outside.

Overall Impression of Revolver Coffee

A visit to Revolver Coffee is not to be missed when visiting Gastown. Recommended for coffee enthusiasts locally and those visiting Vancouver. Rating: 5/5

Cocktails and crepes? Let’s talk the new brunch menu that Clough Club launched just over a month ago. The setting for the perfect brunch is Clough Club’s patio which is surrounded by enough greenery to make it an urban oasis. The patio is cozy and quaint while the food is delicious (yes, I can attest to it!) I was recently invited to try out the new brunch and here’s a look at what is being offered:

Disclosure: All food and drinks in this review are complimentary. Opinions are my own.

Clough Club Brunch Menu

On the menu are sweet and savoury crepes including Fried Chicken, Brisket, Fruit & Hazelnut, and Cannoli. More traditional brunch items are also offered like The Hangover Burger, Eggs Benny, Fried Chicken & Waffles, and Bacon Cheese Dog. Sweet crepes are $9; savoury are $12 – $143; and the other entrees are $10 – $16. The brunch menu is available online.

Cocktails

Starting off with the cocktails, some of the brunch offerings including Mimosa, Caesar, and Radler.

For the Caesar, Clough Club uses their own house-made tomato juice. I quite enjoyed the skewer of bacon, bocconcini and cherry tomato.

There was also the citrus Radler (part beer part juice) which had a cute grapefruit garnish.

Crepes

We tried a few sweet and savoury crepes including the Brisket, Fried Chicken, Cannoli and Banana Hazelnut. Starting with the crepe texture, I thought the chef nailed it with its light, bouncy, supple texture and delicious “eggy” taste.

The Fried Chicken crepe with spinach, onion, bourbon maple syrup and hot sauce had my heart with deliciously crispy chicken pieces. The hot sauce in both savoury crepes we tried had a nice tangy flavour and added a bit of heat to the dishes. In the case of the Fried Chicken crepe, the hot sauce complimented the bourbon maple syrup which had a nice alcohol taste to it.

The Brisket crepe was also good and had caramelized onion, cheddar, kale, a sunny egg, and hot sauce.

Moving on to the sweet crepes, I found it delightful that they weren’t too sweet while the presentation was nice. The Cannoli crepe was the lighter of the two we tried featuring ricotta, honey sweetened creme, and blueberries and strawberries. In particular, I found the creme to be very fresh, fluffy and light.

The Strawberry and Hazlenut had some wonderfully tasty nutty and fruity flavours. It also had a light Nutella spread which automatically makes it a winner.

Larger Entrees

One of the signature brunch items is The Hangover Burger which had a juicy beef chuck patty, American cheese, fried egg, lettuce, tomato between a sweet brioche bun. It’s a hearty burger that doesn’t disappoint and the sauce was particularly tasty. Good to satisfy your burger craving or to help cure a hangover.

The Bacon Cheese Dog was just OK in my opinion. Double smoked bacon, pickled onion, American cheese, with a sunny egg. It’s a solid hot dog though nothing too memorable but I did like the egg on top.

And for Fried Chicken and Waffle enthusiasts, Clough Club’s version is pretty good. The buttermilk fried chicken was wonderfully crispy on the outside and juicy and tender. Too bad I had to share this item with others as I would have gladly devoured it on my own. The waffle was average but it was really the chicken that was the highlight. Served with an egg on top and bourbon maple syrup and hot sauce on the side. The dish is good on its own but certainly the syrup and hot sauce combination can elevate the flavours if you wish.

Now the surprising part of the brunch was how good the tater tots were! I highly recommend them. They came out piping hot, super crispy, golden on the outside and tender on the inside.

Overall Impression of Clough Club’s Brunch

Clough Club delivers a mouthwatering selection of brunch items at reasonable prices and portions. My recommendations are the Fried Chicken savoury crepe, Fruit and Hazelnut sweet crepe, The Hangover Burger, and tater tots. If you’re looking for a new brunch spot, Clough Club would be worthy of trying. Rating: 4.5/5

A new coffee shop in Gastown has been generating much buzz since it opened about less than a month ago. Located at 302 West Hastings Street, Nemesis Coffee is quickly gaining popularity and with this type of momentum they seem to have staying power. After reading a few articles on Nemesis Coffee online (Daily Hive, Scout Magazine) and Instagram posts, I decided to try Nemesis Coffee out.

SFU Building Location

Nemesis Coffee is located on the ground level of the SFU Charles Chang Innovation Centre at the corner of West Hastings and Hamilton. You might notice their logo which is a white inverted heart on a blue background. The interior is modern, warm and inviting with white walls and light wood tones. The space is bright and airy with the ability to seat 40 in the 1,500 square ft space.

There were many baristas working the V60 pour over counter. Based on what I have seen, there is enough customer volume to keep them busy. I like the 4-seater dining tables along the window where you can look into the street. Their space makes for a great place to get work done on your laptop or study. There’s also another space (that I didn’t photograph) where there are communal tables.

Nemesis Coffee Menu

Nemesis specializes in pour-over coffee featuring roasters like Five Elephant and Slate Coffee Roasters. But they’re not your typical hipster coffee shop where you go for just a good cup of joe. Nemesis is serious about their food too; in fact, their chef, Jacob Deacon-Evans, is formerly of Bishop’s, West, and Wildebeest. It’s a refreshing concept which we lack in this city and I dig it.

All their food is made in house. On display, they have a variety of baked goods including scones, financiers, cookies and more. Their all-day menu includes a variety of hot and cold selections like toasts, grains and granolas, and waffles. Many of their items are labelled vegan. The waffles on their menu are a bit more elevated with pricing between $12 – $16. For example, there’s the savoury poached egg, caramelized onions, creme fraiche and buckwheat granola waffle and the sweet option of chocolate walnut sauce, roasted pears, whipped marscarpone custard waffle. Other large plate items offered are chicken thigh, broccolini, cheese sauce and even the daily catch.

What I Tried

My husband and I went visited one morning and ordered the following:

Mocha ($4.50)

Americano ($3)

Lemon posset, beets, black coffee granola ($9)

Coffee smoked duck, red eye hoisin ($16)

One of the nice things about ordering a mocha is that the stay-in mochas come with a shortbread cookie topped with a hazelnut and chocolate spread and torched marshmallows. Here is a video I took of how it is put together:

The mocha was delicious and had a slight bitter taste. I think they use dark chocolate for the drink. The shortbread cookie was nicely crumbly; with the hazlenut spread and marshmallows, the cookie added a very nice dipping element to the mocha.

The Americano was very smooth though I didn’t take note of which roast they were using.

We tried the vegan lemon posset with beets and black coffee granola. I thought that they put quite a bit of consideration into the presentation of the dish for $9. The black coffee granola added a nice gritty texture to the dish. The lemon was very smooth, citrusy and creamy but it was a bit too sweet for my liking. I think if they could tone down the level of sweetness the dish would be better. But certainly, this dish goes well with an espresso to balance out the sweetness.

The coffee smoked duck, red eye hoisin on waffles was pretty good. The waffle itself on the average side but the smoked duck topping is rather unique. The duck slices were tender, juicy and well-seasoned. A tasty dish on the pricier side for $16.

Overall Impression

I like Nemesis Coffee’s concept of offering an elevated coffee experience side-by-side with gourmet hot and cold comfort foods. The food was good but could use a bit of tweaking in terms of price and level of sweetness. All things consider, this place has a lot of potential. I’m still interested in returning. Rating: 4/5

Having feasted on some amazing chowders from Pike Place Chowder in Seattle last month, I was excited to hear about a chowdery opening up in Gastown. An eatery dedicated to serving chowders is something that is novel to Vancouver’s dining scene. Crab Park Chowdery opened up mid-January at 221 Abbott Street. This week I set out to see what they had to offer.

Simple & Small

Crab Park Chowdery is a small restaurant that can seat about 16 people in their 750 square foot space. There is a communal table along the side wall, a few high top tables and seating at the bar. The interior is very simple with exposed brick walls and overhanging string lights.

Crab Park Chowdery Menu

Apparently, the recipes at the chowdery were developed by one of the owner’s cousin, Chef Patrick Hennessy of Kissa Tanto (known as Canada’s Best New Restaurant by Air Canada’s enRoute Magazine). On the menu at Crab Park Chowdery is a New England clamb chowder, loaded baked potato soup, smokey tomato soup and vegan chili. They also have rotating daily chowders. Chowders and soups are served as 8 oz ($7), in a bread bowl ($11), or 16 oz ($12.50). All prices include tax.

What I Tried

It was a solo lunch and I simply went with the New England clam chowder in a bread bowl ($11). The bowl came on a small wooden board with a spoon and the cut out part of the sourdough bread bowl.

I thought the chowder was pretty tasty and hearty. I did feel like it didn’t taste quite like your classic New England clam chowder. Crab Park Chowdery’s version was loaded with ingredients including thick chunks of potato (a bit different) and it was a lot less milky/creamy. It seemed more ingredient-heavy than soupy. In the end, I felt like I didn’t have enough soup to mop up with the sour dough bread.

My personal take on chowders is that it is delicious and slightly messy affair. I really like chowders filled to the brim of my sourdough bowl and even leaking a bit over. With the presentation on the neat wooden board at Crab Park Chowdery, I think the business of eating chowder is just a bit too neat and tidy for my liking. My sourdough was not filled quite to the top which is a bit unappealing to me. I much prefer a steel tray to accomodate a slightly overflowing bread bowl. Another thing was that the chowder was hot but not in-your-face steaming hot. For me, a hearty and alluring bowl of chowder is piping hot and steamy.

Overall Impression of Crab Park Chowdery

The New England Chowder by Crab Park Chowdery was tasty. However, my personal preference is a steamy hot, slightly over-flowing the bread bowl kind of chowder which differs from how chowders are served at Crab Park Chowdery. Rating: 3.5/5

It’s no secret that L’Abbatoir has quite a reputation of being one of the best restaurants in our city. In 2016, they were ranked #13 in a list of Canada 100’s Best Restaurants. Offering French influenced West Coast fare, L’Abbatoir is a popular place to enjoy cocktails, dinner and brunch. This holiday season, they are offering lunch service from 11:30 am – 2:30 pm on December 7 – 9, 14 – 16 and 21 – 23 only. On a snowy day yesterday, I decided to try out the special lunch offerings of this highly regarded Gastown restaurant. It was also my first visit ever to L’Abbatoir.

Charming & Elegant Interior

There’s quite a bit of history to the building in which L’Abbatoir is located. It was built in the 19th century and is the site of Vancouver’s first jail. The building was also buttressed to the city’s main butchery and meat packing district so the name “L’Abattoir,” which means ‘slaughterhouse’ in French, pays tribute to its past. The building is refurbished brick and beam featuring classic French tile work, industrial fixtures, natural wood, and glass and steel finishes. It’s gorgeous, charming and elegant to say the least.

The ground level of the restaurant has the bar and the upper floor is the main sit-down dining area. There is also a private dining facility across the back alleyway. You can see that area if you sit in the far back of the upper dining room (like I did).

What We Tried

For lunch, my husband and I had the following:

Bread and butter ($3.50)

Risotto alla Milanese with steamed mussels ($15)

Blanquette de Veau ($25)

Baked pasta filled with confit duck ($24)

To start, we had an order of bread and butter. These were not complimentary and were noted on the menu. There wasn’t anything special about the bread or butter; it’s as average as ones that are offered complimentary elsewhere. At Bau Haus, a nearby Gastown fine dining restaurant, they offered two types of table butter during my visit: smoked paprika and sea salt butter. And there was no extra charge with the bread and butter at Bau Haus.

Our appetizier was the Risotto alla Milanese with steamed mussels. The mussels were tender and had just the right amount of chewiness. However, the risotto was a bit uncooked because the rice was on the harder side and a bit crunchy. Also, I thought that the risotto could be hotter – it just seemed just barely warm. Still an edible dish with good flavours but less than perfect risotto texture.

One of our mains was the baked pasta filled with confit duck with béchamel sauce, chanterelle mushrooms, and Grana Padano. It was a tasty, savoury dish with a fun and interesting presentation. The stuffed pasta was easy to cut into but still had a nice chewy texture. The confit duck inside the pasta had a pleasing flavour and tender, silky texture.

Our other entree was the Blanquette de Veau which was pot pie with white veal stew. The stew was hearty and tasty, but overall it seemed like the kind of dish that you can get at a pub elsewhere. As a dish offered at a highly acclaimed restaurant and at the price of $25, it was a bit disappointing. There just wasn’t much of a wow factor to it at all.

Service

I thought that our server at L’Abbatoir was exceptional. She checked on us in a timely manner and even wished us a delightful meal when we got our entrees.

Overall Impression of the Winter Lunch at L’Abbatoir

I have to admit that my lunch experience at L’Abbatoir wasn’t as stellar as I had been hoping. The only memorable dish I have to say would be the baked pasta filled with confit duck. I just thought that the risotto and white veal stew pot pie were really too average to be truly exemplify the talents of the chefs at L’Abbatoir. I wish I could recommend this lunch service but I feel that you can just similar items elsewhere without paying such a premium. Our bill was $70 before tip which was a lot for what we received in my opinion. Rating: 3.5/5

It’s no secret that Ask for Luigi is one of the top, casual Italian eateries in Vancouver. This year, they are ranked in the top 50 of Canada’s best restaurants. And despite being located on the edge of Gastown in a less than tourist-friendly area, pasta lovers will gladly line up outside Ask for Luigi to await their chance to indulge in their fresh, handmada pasta. A while back, a few friends and I went to Ask for Luigi for a weekday lunch.

Retro-Inspired

Ask for Luigi is a small restaurant which seats only about 32 people. The interior is very retro-inspired resembling a vintage recreation room with wood panels.

Next we had four pasta dishes. As a risotto lover, the parmesan risotto, pancetta, cauliflower & pangrattato satisified my cravings. The texture was just perfect – thick, creamy and al-dente. Then there was the salty sweet pancetta, crunchy cauliflower and pangrattato. This dish got my lips smacking.

The Sagne e pezzi, lamb sausage, chickpeas and kale was another favourite of mine. The lamb sausage had a nice spicy kick to it. I quite enjoy chickpeas at home (a good source of protein!) so chickpeas with pasta is right with me.

The Rigatoni and bolognese was a tasty, hearty and meaty dish that had excellent flavours. That shaved Parmesan on top was heavenly.

The Fusilli puttanesca and albacore tuna confit was the least enjoyable because it tasty too fishy!

To finish off a fantastic meal, there was the panna cotta with almond biscotti and plums. The panna cotta had a silky, smooth texture that was just firm. The plum sauce was strong and some of us found it too tart.

Overall Impression of Ask for Luigi

The lunch at Ask for Luigi was fantastic and left me lingering for me. Delicious, fresh, hand-made pasta in a casual setting. I’m planning to visit them for brunch soon! Rating: 4.5/5